Scale says I'm done but my training log disagrees and says I'm not actually done yet

2026-10-06 08:13

Stepped on this morning and it read 172. That's the exact number I wrote down 14 months ago when I started, so by the letter of my own agreement I'm finished. Except I'm not, because the guy who picked 172 assumed he'd look a certain way there, and instead I just look like someone who lifts and also used to weigh 234.

Which is honestly fine. Deadlift is at 245x5 now, up from 135x5. Protein sits around 170g most days and sleep is the one thing I schedule like a meeting. Every time I see a stack thread I feel the pull for about ten seconds, then remember the boring stuff is still paying out and I don't want to muddy the signal.

So for anyone past the number: did you set a new hard target — body fat, a lift, a measurement — or did you just park the scale and keep running the same program until something else moved?

2026-10-08 01:35

the scale is a terrible finish line if your body changed on the way down. I run a cafe, so my version was: hit a number, but still mindlessly eat the broken pastry at close.

What helped was picking a non-scale goal I actually cared about—getting through the 3 p.m. rush without raiding the display case, plus a deadlift PR.

So maybe 172 was old-you’s guess. What would current-you pick as the real finish line—waist, a strength number, or how you feel after a shift?

That’s the number I’d trust now.

2026-10-12 01:58

Congrats on the 62-lb swing and the recomp—that’s not a small thing. I hit a similar weird spot where the goal weight arrived but I still felt “soft” because I hadn’t trained for the body I wanted.

What does your log say is trending? If lifts are up while weight’s flat, maybe your next agreement should be a performance target, like 3 sessions/week for 8 weeks or your first strict pull-up.

I also use belt notch and how old jeans fit as my non-scale check-ins. What’s one strength or habit milestone you’d want to hit by summer?

2026-10-17 01:11

I’d trust the log over the scale here. My version: same number at start and 18 months later, but I went from 5 pushups to 20 and my jeans went down two sizes.

The scale just measured my old starting weight in a completely different body. Pick two non-scale markers per month — one strength (deadlift reps, pushups) and one waist/photo — and log them next to the scale.

With two kids, I keep a snack drawer with string cheese, jerky, and cut fruit so 4pm chaos doesn’t turn into eating their crackers. What’s your training log showing that made you call BS?